No Pity For A Coward
by GreatMountainTengu
Summary: Anger, Disgust, and Fear have never really gotten along, but with the final hockey match of the season only one week away, Riley will not risk being scared of losing, and neither will Anger and Disgust, who start being crueler to Fear than usual. Desperate to lose his cowardly tendencies and protect Riley the "right" way, Fear begins taking matters into his own hands...
1. Prologue

**A/N: Multi-chapter thingy, hooray! Let's hope I don't disappoint everybody like I did with the last one I tried to do!**

 **DISCLAIMER: Inside Out belongs to Pixar. I'm not making any profit from this fic.**

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Nobody likes being called a coward. It makes them feel like they're missing out on something fun. I know that. I should. It's my biggest peeve. It bums me out when Riley regrets not doing something because, well, _I'm_ the one who stopped her from doing it. I only want to keep her safe. It's my job as one of her emotions. As you've probably gathered by now, I'm Fear. And for the record, I know I'm a coward.

Out of the five of us, I'm the guardian. Or, I should be. But I'll get into that later. I guess I should start with our leader: Joy. She's the one who helps Riley see the bright side of everything. To find the fun, as she puts it. As you'd expect, she's friendly, optimistic, full of fun, all-around happy. Sometimes she's kind of pushy, but ever since the move she's mostly gotten over it. Then there's Sadness. And yes, since we're strictly a well-oiled happy machine, she's kind of the black sheep of the group. Or at least, she was. But when we got to San Francisco, some...stuff happened. Anyway, long story short, we all realized that we completely misjudged her, and started letting her be as important as she deserves to be. That pessimism of hers used to scare me, but lately I've found out that there's way more to her than just that. See, unlike the rest of us, she's got empathy. And sometimes, that's even more important than being happy. She's thoughtful, a good listener, and - dare I say it - kind of sweet.

And then there's Anger, the guy who wants everything to be fair for Riley. Now, he's pretty good at it, but, well...let's just say that we're frequently at odds with each other. And by that I mean he always finds things to blame me for and I never bother to prove him wrong because I know that it'll only get me more dislocated limbs than I know what to do with. He shouts, he rants and raves, he goes ballistic until he gets what he wants (or until Joy tells him to go to the time-out corner). I'm not going to say he scares me, because that would be a lie. He terrifies me. But because of my pacifist nature- uh, sorry, my _total lack of anything resembling a backbone_ \- there's nothing I can really do about it.

Then there's Disgust. Her area is to make sure that Riley's always at her best, both physically and socially. So, naturally, she's got both high standards and low tolerance. Again, she knows what she's doing. But just like Anger, when it comes to abuse, I'm her favourite victim. But she doesn't beat on me. That's much too unladylike for her. No, what she does is insult me. Long and hard. If I get one more crack today about my intelligence or general appearance, I don't know what I'm going to do. But just like with Anger, I don't do anything about it because I'm aware - and paranoid - of the repercussions.

Yeah, so they're mean to me. But over the years, I've learned how to deal with it. I just kind of lay low and wait until it's all over. It's worked so far. Arguments never last, nobody ever gets hurt - too badly - so, it's fine, everything's fine, we're all fine.

Actually, if I'm completely honest, there's nothing fine about it. I mean, I'm Riley's protector, so I think I merit some respect. But that's changing now, in some ways...a lot of ways. Riley's practically a teenager now. And the things that used to scare her when she was little just don't anymore. She's at that age when being scared is the same thing as being weak. And so, sometimes, I get shoved out of the way. Don't get me wrong, I'm not okay with it. But the thing is, I can't do anything about it. At least, I can't bring myself to. I guess I'm just too scared (yeah, big surprise) of what everybody else would do. But at the same time, I'm also worried about Riley. It's not like I don't trust everybody else, it's just that they can't protect her like me. And then there's the...ongoing war between Anger and me. These days, whenever I screw up - you know, make us scared of something trivial, make us miss out on something fun, wake us up from a horrifying nightmare - Anger loves reminding me of my biggest screwup: the time when Joy and Sadness went missing, and I tried to quit. Things got too scary for me to handle, so I took the option that seemed the best to me. What I hadn't realized at the time was that I was about to abandon Riley. But now I know, and both Anger and Disgust take great delight in making sure that I don't forget it. Among other things, they call me weak, stupid, and - most hurtfully - a bad protector. And I hate to admit it, but I've started believing them. They're right. I'm not positive like Joy, understanding like Sadness, strong like Anger, or orderly like Disgust. All I can do is protect. But lately, it seems like I can't even do that. I know it's not in my job description to be angry with anything or sick of anything, but sometimes...I don't know.

Sometimes I just hate being me.

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 **Thank you for reading! Please review and tell me what you think so far! Keep in mind that the rest of the story will be in third-person and not in Fear's POV.**


	2. The Game

**A/N: As you lot have probably realized by now, I'm one of those people who updates sporadically and with no real schedule. This is because I am basically bone-idle. I'm truly sorry, but don't expect updates to come as promptly (and I use the term loosely) as this one has.**

* * *

 _TWEEEEEEEET!_ "Alright, everybody, time to pack it up!" That was the coach blowing the whistle, signalling that practice had come to an end. All the members of the Fog Horn team skated over toward the door and made their way to the locker room.

Riley Andersen took off her helmet as she stepped off the ice. Meanwhile, inside her head, her five emotions stood at her console, celebrating yet another successful practice.

Inside Headquarters, Sadness slumped over as she pressed three small buttons on the console. "Aww, practice is over," she whined. "That's sad."

Riley began to feel a bit bummed out that she had to leave after such a fun day of practice.

"Cheer up," said Joy, pressing some different buttons. "We did an awesome job today! Besides, we've still got another whole week, and then we're gonna win the final game of the season!"

With these thoughts, Riley felt good again.

A wide smile spread across Joy's face. "What do you guys say we spread the love, huh?"

There was a collective nod of assent from the other four, and Joy pushed a lever forward.

"Hey, great job today," Riley said to Mandy Newport, the girl in front of her.

Mandy looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Thanks! You too!"

A gold-coloured memory ball rolled its way into Headquarters. "She just complimented us!" Joy gushed. "We're on a roll! Let's continue the conversation."

Disgust rolled her eyes. "You better not make it awkward this time, okay?"

Joy waved her hand. "I got this." She pushed another lever forward.

"So, uh, do you think we're ready for the final match?" asked Riley.

Mandy shrugged. "Let's hope so. We've made it this far."

In Riley's Headquarters, there was a gulp from Fear. "Uh, guys, I'm picking up some implications of _losing_ ," he whispered.

"Oh, stop worrying," said Joy.

"Failure is a part of life," sighed Sadness.

"Please. Like we're gonna allow ourselves to get humiliated like that," scoffed Disgust.

"Shaddup!" snapped Anger.

"You kidding? We've totally got this!" chimed in a player named Brett Curtis, who had overheard Mandy. "Long as we got the great Riley Andersen and the mighty Mia Sanchez, we can't lose!"

"Hurray! Another compliment!" cried Joy, clapping her hands as another yellow memory ball rolled in.

"The great Riley Andersen," Sadness repeated to herself. "I like that."

"Ya see that, stupid?" said Anger, accosting Fear. "Even Brett the Busybody knows we aren't gonna lose!"

"Who says 'busybody' anymore?" said Disgust, giving her famous eyeroll.

"Nobody asked you, Prima Donna," Anger shot back.

"Don't call me stupid," muttered Fear.

"What did you say?!" His short red colleague demanded.

"Nothing," he squeaked.

"Hang on, guys," said Joy. "Coach is talking again." Everybody's ears perked up lest they miss something important.

"Alright, Fog Horns, listen up," said Coach Evans once all the players were off the ice. "Before you leave, I just wanna remind you that since our last game of the season is this Saturday, so all of you have to show up at each and every practice until then. Practices will go an hour later than usual, and there'll be one additional on Friday."

In Riley's Headquarters, Disgust was heard to groan. "Seriously?"

"Like I expected," said Sadness with a helpless shrug.

Fear twiddled his fingers, as was his custom whenever he got nervous. "Oh, no," he whispered, shivering. "The coach in Minnesota never did anything like that! What if we fall behind on homework again?" Before anybody could answer, he'd pushed several buttons on the console, making Riley more and more worried with each thought he put into her head. "Our grades'll drop! The teacher'll get angry! Mom and Dad'll kill us!"

A purple memory ball made a clunking noise as it fell into place.

Joy put her hand across Fear's. "It's okay. I'm sure we can get some homework done during practice."

The purple memory that had just come in gained a thin strip of gold down the middle, and Riley was comforted somewhat.

* * *

"Goodnight, Mom, goodnight, Dad," Riley said to her parents that night after supper and homework were finished.

Mom hugged her. "Goodnight, Riley. We love you."

Dad gave her a thumbs-up. "You get a good night's sleep now, hockey star!"

On Joy's initiative, Riley giggled and pretended to score a goal. Then she went upstairs to her room. After reading some chapters out of a book that kept Tragic Vampire Romance Island running (much to Sadness's satisfaction), Riley fell asleep.

"And...we're out!" Joy announced.

"I guess it's my turn for Dream Duty tonight," said Sadness.

"Hang on. Group Meeting first," Joy told her.

"What? Why?" Anger demanded.

"Is something wrong?" asked Fear.

Disgust groaned. "Honestly, Joy, can't it wait? We're all tired."

"Now come on, you guys, this is important. It's about the upcoming hockey match," the lead emotion explained.

"Oh, okay," said Fear. "Well, in that case, I guess I'll say goodnight!" He began making his way to the stairs.

Anger grabbed him by the arm. "You're gonna stay put," he growled at the purple emotion, who grinned sheepishly and tried to make himself smaller.

Joy told everybody to sit down on the sofa so she could tell them her plan. "Okay, guys," she addressed them, "now I know that this game seems a little nerve-wracking-"

"There's the understatement of the year," Fear interrupted, looking as though he'd make a break for the stairs at any second. Anger dug him in the ribs.

Joy continued. "But the way I see it, if we divvy up the work, we can get through this and have fun with it. So all of us are gonna have our own special jobs to do during the week to help Riley be the best that she can be at the game. Alright?"

"Okay," said Sadness.

"Yeah, alright," said Anger.

"Whatever," said Disgust.

"Can I go to bed now?" squeaked Fear.

"Uh, don't know if you've noticed, but there's a meeting going on," Disgust snapped at him.

"Come on, guys, stop fighting," Joy said, a bit sternly. "Now, we've got to take this seriously. Everybody's counting on us - Mom, Dad, Coach Evans, and all our friends, too. So we gotta work together and show 'em what the great Riley Andersen is made of!"

She punched the air with enthusiasm. The others followed suit, excepting Fear, who was preoccupied with what could go wrong.

"Alright, now here's how we're gonna do this," said Joy. "I'm going to be the one to keep Riley optimistic and confident in her skill. And just so I don't get out of control, you, Sadness," she turned toward Sadness, "are going to be there to make sure Riley's hopes don't get too high and keep her from getting overconfident. Got it?"

Sadness nodded, eager to help.

"Next up, Anger," said Joy.

"Yo."

"You're going to make sure Riley stays determined. Keep our goal in sight. And remember to play fair, okay?"

"Yeah, well, everyone else better play fair too, or we're gonna have a problem," the red emotion said with threatening emphasis on the word "problem."

"Disgust?" Joy said.

Disgust looked up from her nails.

"Your job is to help Riley stay in top form. Basically make sure her skills don't go rusty."

"Within the confines of our hygiene, I hope," Disgust said back. "You just leave it to me."

Joy turned towards Fear. "And last but not least, you, Fear, are going to be in charge of deciding when to remind Riley of the possibility of losing the game and scaring her with it so that she won't let her guard down."

Fear was about to agree when Anger interrupted. "Yeah, only we aren't gonna lose, so there's no point in having old Nervy Dervy do anything!"

Fear was taken aback. No point in him doing anything? "H-hey, that isn't-"

"He's right, Joy," Disgust said curtly, taking no notice of the fact that the purple emotion was trying to say something. "Losing isn't exactly something we can really think about at this point."

"It's okay...I'm sure everyone will understand even if we don't win," Sadness offered.

"No, no!" Fear protested. "They won't, I just know it! They're gonna get get upset! Especially Coach Evans! He's so scary when he gets mad! He'll call Mom and Dad, and then they'll get in trouble, and then we'll-"

Joy put up her hands. "Hey, Fear, chill! Save it for when we need you, okay?" She really didn't mean anything bad by it, but something about that statement hurt him just a bit.

He sighed. "Yeah. Okay. Sorry." What else could he say?

* * *

Later that night, Fear found himself wide awake, still worrying his head about the game and what Joy had told him to do. He thought about how nobody really wanted him to do anything, because everybody was so set on winning and any thoughts of the worst-case scenario - losing - were not allowed. He thought of how much the entire prospect of playing their first final match in San Francisco scared him. It was all just so...new. And Riley should be at least a little nervous, but she refused to be so. And one question lingered in Fear's mind: _What would happen next?_

 _I'm thinking too hard,_ he decided. _Maybe I should go get some coffee. Yeah, that ought to calm me down._ Following this logic, Fear got out of bed and stepped outside. He always left his bedroom door open just in case there were ever a reason for him to rush out of his room in a panic.

Downstairs, he got his coffee and went back to his room. Just then, he heard voices. Not from the console room, where Sadness was on Dream Duty, but outside Anger's room. He recognized the voices as Disgust's and Anger's. Curiosity piqued, he snuck out of his room and drew closer, hugging the wall so as not to be seen.

"...a shower every day now," Disgust was saying.

"Yeah, yeah. Just don't obsess over it, okay? After all, hockey's what we gotta focus on. Hygiene comes later," Anger said firmly.

"Whatever," muttered Disgust. "Though I've gotta say, I like this new system of Joy's. Nice and organized."

"And fair," Anger added.

"Yeah, Riley'll get through this perfectly. She's gonna win, and she's gonna do it with style."

 _Let's hope so,_ Fear thought to himself.

"There's one thing that bugs me, though," Anger said. "Why did she think Fear was gonna do us any good? All he ever does is make Riley a worrywart when she should be focusing on other things."

"But that's my job!" Fear nearly shouted, but for some reason, he kept his mouth shut.

"It isn't right," Disgust agreed. "Riley loves hockey! She shouldn't have to worry about it!"

Fear tried to think of a comeback for this, but he couldn't. She was right. Riley shouldn't need to worry about something she loved so much.

"One thing's for sure," said Anger. "We can't afford to lose. We can't even _think_ about losing. There's just too many people counting on us!"

"Well, obviously, but what are we going to do about the King of the Cowards back there?" She tossed her head behind her in the direction of Fear's room, totally unaware that he was just behind them, taking in every word.

"Look, until the match is over, we've gotta keep him away from the console no matter what, understand?"

Disgust started to protest. "Hey, but Joy said-"

"I could really care less what Joy said," Anger cut her off sharply. "The point is, if Fear gets control of that console, he's just gonna screw everything up."

"And what makes you so sure?"

"You remember what he did when Joy and Sadness went missing! When the going was smooth, he said he was gonna keep everything under control, but the second the crap hit the fan, he ran like a sissy! And he almost got away with it, too!"

She nodded. "That's true. I couldn't believe him! That was both annoying _and_ stupid!"

Steam and a few sparks emerged from the firebrick's head. "Ohh, just thinking about it makes me wanna strangle him, the..." As a strong, steady flame emerged, every swear word he could think of was spewed out of his mouth as he held his arms out in front of him making as though to wring someone's neck. Behind him, the object of his fury began fearing for his life.

"And you're convinced that he can't be trusted to protect Riley?" asked Disgust, interrupting the tantrum.

"'Course I am! I mean, what sort of protector tries to bail on the one he's gotta protect? A _worthless_ one, that's what."

Fear's heart dropped. _Worthless?_ They thought he was worthless? Was this actually the truth? How could it be?

"I'll say," Disgust said with a scoff. "And what's to stop him from failing her again, with all that stuff about losing the game he wouldn't shut up about?"

"Exactly my point," said Anger. "So, we agreed?"

"Absolutely," Disgust replied. "He touches that console, he'll live to regret it."

Unwanting to hear any more, Fear ran back to his room as fast as his feet would take him and closed the door tightly. Breathing heavily, shaking all the while, he thought on what Anger and Disgust had said. Their words crushed into his heart and made it sting. How could they say such awful things? Of course, they'd had their differences with him, but for all Fear knew, they were still his friends. Why did they hate him so much? He'd known that they weren't exactly thrilled with how much of a coward he was, but until now, he hadn't known just how much reproach they bore him for it. And now, because of his cowardice, they wouldn't even let him do the only thing he was born to do: protect Riley. He felt trapped. He had no idea what to do. Should he tell Joy? No, he thought. If Joy found out about what Anger and Disgust planned to do, she'd surely call them out on it, making them even madder at Fear, both for eavesdropping on them and telling on them. No, no matter how betrayed or hurt he felt, Fear could not risk facing any further wrath from Anger or scorn from Disgust.

He was just too scared.

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 **A/N: Sorry for its length. Please tell me how I can improve! And a big thanks to everybody who has supported me so far!**


	3. Tough Guy

**A/N: *falls to her knees* Forgive my lateness! It's just that the exchange student I was hosting finally left back for her home country, and so I've been helping her pack and stuff. (Not to mention the fact that I was a bit depressed about her leaving) Anyhow, enough excuses. Here it is!**

* * *

Monday, after school. Riley's parents had just dropped her off at hockey practice. Meanwhile, her emotions were all in a clutter.

Fear hadn't left his room all day. And while Anger and Disgust were both surprised and relieved, Joy was getting a bit worried. She hadn't had time to leave the console during the day, but by now she was seriously considering momentarily leaving to get Fear out of his room.

"If you ask me, it ain't worth it," Anger muttered. "That screamer's just gonna ruin it for us."

"Yeah, Joy," Disgust chimed in. "I should think you'd be happy to have a little peace and quiet around here for once."

Joy gave them a disapproving look. "That isn't nice, you guys."

"He probably just needs some alone time," suggested Sadness.

"But what about the plan?" Joy countered. "Riley needs all of us!"

Disgust and Anger exchanged a look that seemed to say, "All but one."

"Listen," said Joy, "I gotta find out what's with Fear today. There's still, like, two minutes before practice actually starts, so you three take care of things until I get back, okay?" And with that, she was out of the room and up the stairs in a flash.

Silently, she approached Fear's room, the door of which was still shut. _That's not like him,_ Joy thought. "Hey, Fear, rise and shine!" she called, trying to sound as cheery as ever. She heard a squeak and a thud, probably Fear jumping at the unexpected sound of her voice.

"Oh, hey, Joy!" came his voice from inside, followed by a nervous, fabricated giggle. "Nice day, isn't it? Now, uh...goawayplease."

"Fear, don't you know what today is?"

"Sure, I do. It's Monday. We had one of 'em last week."

Joy began to get a bit cross. "Riley needs you, you know! We haven't had any rest trying to keep her safe down there without you! Now are you coming out or not?"

" _Not!_ " Was the prompt reply.

The yellow emotion was becoming desperate. "Well, _why?_ "

Fear was silent. She'd just asked why. Should he tell her the truth? Should he just let out with everything he'd heard last night? Should he throw all caution to the wind and trust her? _Tell her, you wuss!_ he scolded himself, but he couldn't bring himself to say a word.

"Come on, Fear," Joy urged. Her voice became gentler. "Don't you wanna tell me what's up?"

 _Well, I've gotta tell her something,_ he decided. _Wait, what am I thinking? I can't just come right out and blab everything! Yeesh, what they'd do to me... Oh, come on, wimp! Just say something, it doesn't have to be about what happened last night! But, but, I can't just lie! That'd be_ really _bad!_ "It's...uh...well..." he started. "The...um...the other night, uh...Anger said...he said that if-if I m-messed up today, he'd...uh, strangle me. Yep." This wasn't entirely a lie, since Anger had indeed said something to that effect.

"You mean that's it?" Joy asked. "He says that kind of stuff to you all the time! We all know he never means it."

 _Dang it, I said the wrong thing!_ "W-well, uh," he scrambled, "this time he sounded _really_ serious about it, so I think I'll just stay up here until the dust settles."

Joy chuckled. "Oh, Fear. Look, just come on out of there, we'll go downstairs together, and everything'll be fine."

The purple emotion sighed in resignation. It was clear that there was no way Joy could understand what was going on unless he outright told her, which he could not do. If this was all the solace he was going to receive today, he might as well go downstairs. Of course, he wanted to protect Riley. But the question was, would anybody let him?

...

"It's all good, everyone! I got him out!" Joy announced as soon as they were downstairs.

Fear waved sheepishly. "Hi..."

"Oh, how nice! Lookie here, Anger! Joy got Fear out of his room!" Disgust said with a smile as sugary and forced as could be.

"Of course she did!" said Anger, whose smile was just as sugary and forced. They both turned their grimacing faces toward Fear, who ducked back behind Joy.

"What kept you up there, anyway?" Sadness asked, looking concerned.

Fear shrugged. "Coffee hangover, I guess."

Joy called a brief group meeting. "Okay, Team Happy," she said, sounding a bit like Coach Evans (which Disgust spared no time in pointing out). "Today is all about determination. Which means that we're gonna need Anger to be in charge for most of practice. You up to that?" she asked the last part of Anger.

"Heck yeah, I am!" he roared, clapping his fist to his palm.

"Great!" Joy said excitedly. "Everybody else?"

The others nodded enthusiastically.

"Alright! Go Team Happy!"

"Go Team Happy!"

"You better not get out of control this time," Disgust said to Anger through her teeth.

"Yeah, yeah, I know!" he waved her away like a fly as he rushed over to the console. "What am I, an idiot?"

"Uh, Anger," Fear said in a timid voice, "I've been meaning to talk to you-"

"You shut up before I relieve you of those located limbs," Anger growled, showing his fist. Fear gulped and took a few steps backwards. _That's what I get for trying to be brave,_ he thought.

Just then, Coach Evans blew his whistle. Riley finished lacing up her skates and went over with the rest of the team. On the way, she accidentally bumped into Mia Sanchez.

Fear slammed his hand on a button, and for a split second, Riley got scared.

"Watch it," Mia snapped.

"What did she just say?!" Anger snarled. "Oh, that is it!"

"Anger, no!" Fear shouted and slapped his hands away from the console. "I don't want a fight!"

"Too late!" Anger shouted back, and started punching Fear. Before either of them could reach the console, Disgust had already made a move.

"Alright, alright, sorry!" Riley said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"What the heck was that?!" Fear squeaked once he was able to escape Anger. "Why didn't you let me handle it?!"

"Uh, hello! You want the 'mighty Mia Sanchez' to think we're weak?!" Disgust flung back.

"There's nothing weak about being polite!" Fear protested.

"Yeah right!" Anger bellowed. "Just look at _you!_ "

Joy came to the rescue. "Alright, everyone! Break it up!"

Once the arguers were separated, she said: "The thing is, we're all going to have to act responsibly if we want this plan to work. Now, we're going to listen to what the coach says and take it from there."

"This was a bad idea," Sadness mumbled.

"And remember," Joy went on, "the trick is to stay focused and not let things bother you."

"Yeah, Anger," Disgust butted in, "stay _focused_."

"That means you too, ya know!" Anger yelled at her.

"It means everybody," said Joy. "Now let's get to work!"

"Alright, Fog Horns," the coach addressed the team, "today we're gonna try something a little different. Mia told me that she'd do better in the game at the right wing, so today I'm gonna switch it up and see how it goes. Riley, today you're taking the left wing, got it?"

"Wait, what?" Sadness asked, a bit shocked.

"Come on!" groaned Disgust. "Is he out of his mind?"

"He can't do that! _HE CAN'T DO THAT!_ " Anger raged.

"We haven't played left wing in ages! What're we gonna do?!" Fear panicked.

"Hey, hey, it's alright," Joy assured them. "It's always good to try new things." She pushed a lever forward.

Riley smiled. "Yeah."

"Good," said the coach. "Any questions?"

Lizzie Burke put up her hand. "Is anyone else going to be switched?"

"Not unless they talk to me about it first. Alright, Fog Horns! Practice positions!"

Everybody got out onto the ice and took their places.

Coach Evans blew the whistle, and they were off.

"If that Sanchez chick crosses us again, she's gonna get it and get it good," Anger vowed, rubbing his hands together.

"Hey, just 'cause you're in charge today doesn't mean you can do what you want to our reputation," Disgust told him.

"Focus!" called Joy.

...

Practice went on, with all the emotions having their turns, combined when necessary, except for Fear, whom Anger made keep his distance. Sadness tried to remedy this once or twice, but all Anger said was, "Joy said _I'm_ in charge today!" So that was that.

Fear couldn't stop thinking about what he had overheard the other night and what he should do about it, or whether he should do anything about it. He looked over at Anger. He seemed to be in a controllable mood - for the time being, that is. Then he looked over at Disgust, who was filing her nails and occasionally glancing up at the screen that allowed them to see through Riley's eyes. Like Anger, she seemed relatively calm. Joy was busy looking over memories, and Sadness was brushing up on the recently-installed mind manuals. It was now or never.

Gingerly, Fear approached Anger at the console. "Uh, Anger?"

"What?"

"Can I talk to you?"

"We're in the middle of practice, stupid!"

Fear winced at the name-calling. "Please?"

Anger let out a groan. "Keep it snappy."

Fear suppressed a sigh of relief. So far, this was working. "Uh...uh..." Hang on, he didn't know what to say! He couldn't be too specific, then they'd find out that he had heard them! But he couldn't just stand there and say nothing! "Uh...um...I, uh..."

"Ya interrupted me to tell me that?" Anger said through the clenched teeth of a sarcastic grin, eyes still glued to the screen.

 _Say something already!_ "Uh, I just wanted to ask, uh...why you, uh, won't let me do anything today?" he tried, hoping not to offend Anger.

"You heard what Joy said. Today's all about determination!" Anger's hands stopped on a couple of buttons as Riley tried insinuating herself closer to the puck. "And if Riley's gotta be determined, she needs the spark and strength of somebody tough! So buzz off!" He said, only "buzz" wasn't the word he used.

There was a silence.

"I can be tough," Fear said, trying to make himself look a bit bigger and more confident.

"Oh yeah?" Anger challenged.

"Yeah," Fear retorted. "As a matter of fact, I can be just as tough as you if I want!"

"Ooh, I bet."

There was another silence. Anger pressed some more buttons, and the puck was in Riley's possession.

Fear reached out. "Uh, can I-"

Anger whipped his head around. "NO!"

Riley lost focus. She began to slip.

"Oh, perfect!" Disgust scoffed.

"See what ya made me do?!" Anger yelled.

Fear barely had time to think. He slammed his hand down on a random word - multiple times - from the curse word library and shoved a lever forward.

As Riley began falling, she let out with a rapid fire of the swear word Fear had put in. She landed on her back.

Everybody around her skated backwards.

Coach Evans came running when he heard the yelling. "What's the problem?" he wanted to know. He saw Riley down on the ice. "Was that you?"

"It was her, all right," Mia Sanchez said bluntly.

"TRAITOR! NUMBSKULL! **ABSOLUTE IDIOT!** " Back in Headquarters, Anger was holding Fear like a battering ram and repeatedly smashing his face into the wall, head burning up. Poor Fear was screaming in pain, begging for mercy.

Joy rushed over and placed herself between Fear and the wall. "Leave him alone!" She hollered. Fear wriggled out of Anger's grasp and fell sprawled out on the floor.

"Nice going, _tough guy!_ " Disgust hissed, looking down her nose at Fear, who had squeezed his eyes shut and curled up in a ball to make himself as small as possible. Right now, he looked anything but tough.

"What are we supposed to do now?!" Anger demanded.

Riley's emotions, minus Fear, hurried back over to the console.

The coach narrowed his eyes. "Why don't you just take a few minutes to discuss things with me," he said to Riley.

Sadness moseyed over and placed her hands on the console. "Sorry, guys," she muttered.

Guiltily, Riley dragged herself off the ice.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for reading! And thank you guys for 20 reviews!**


	4. Worry

**A/N: Once again, I apologize for the wait. I actually got the idea for the second half of this chapter from one of my reviewers, called Niker. Thank you, sir/ma'am, for saving me from chronic writer's block! And as usual, thanks to everyone who's been supporting me and has been willing to overlook my slacker tend** **encies!**

* * *

"Riley, were you the one who swore?" Coach Evans asked.

"Yes, coach," Riley replied, refusing to make eye contact out of shame.

"You know I don't condone that sort of language, right?"

She nodded. "I didn't really mean to...I mean, I just got scared and then I fell. It was just an accident...I'm really sorry."

The coach's glare softened. "Well, since this is the first time you did it and you didn't really mean it, I won't hold it against you."

Riley raised her head and looked hopeful. "Thanks."

"He forgave us! Nice job, Sadness," Joy whispered, giving her friend a thumbs-up.

"I think I'll try for a little more sympathy," Sadness said.

Behind her, Anger slammed the latest issue of The Mind Reader, **BOMBS DROPPED AT PRACTICE!** down on the sofa. "Oh, come on, already! Tell 'im the truth! It's 'cause of that Sanchez chick! She wrecked everything for us!"

"I said I wanted sympathy," was the blunt reply. Anger crossed his arms and muttered something about touchy-feely whiners never listening to him.

"I guess I'm just not used to playing anything but right wing," Riley sighed.

"Sadness!" Disgust scolded. "You made us sound weak!"

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"Do you want me to switch you to a different position?" Coach Evans asked.

"You bet, big guy!" Anger shouted. "You can switch us back to right wing again! And while you're at it, you can go tell Sanchez to take a nap on a highway!"

"Hey, relax!" Joy said. "It'll be fine! If anyone can handle a big switch like this, it's Riley!" Her hands flew over the console's surface.

"No thanks, coach. I'll get the hang of it," Riley said, trying to smile.

"That's pretty brave of you, Riley. You ready to head out there again?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Get out there, kid."

Riley nodded and went back out on the ice.

A blue-and-yellow-coloured memory rolled in and clunked against the blue one that had come in before it.

Joy clapped her hands and hugged Sadness. "We did it!"

The blue emotion smiled. "He thinks we're brave."

"It's certainly an improvement," muttered Anger, glancing at Fear, who was rubbing his sore nose.

 _'Get the hang of it'?_ Fear shook his head. _What are they thinking? There's no way! We'll lose the game at this rate!_ He looked over at the two at the console and met eyes with Sadness. There was a look in her eyes that seemed to ask him if he was truly alright.

...

"Hey, Riley, are you okay?" asked Mandy as soon as Riley returned.

"Was Evans mad?" Brett wanted to know.

"Not really," Riley assured them. "I'll be alright." She got back into position.

The whistle blew, and the Fog Horns went back to practicing. After they were done, though, Riley and her emotions kept hearing snatches of conversation about her. Things like "Is she really okay?" and "She never swore like that before. What's with her?" and "I've never seen anyone so jumpy," not to mention "Let's hope she shapes up soon," and even "Just watch. She'll screw it up. We're dead this Saturday."

Disgust crossed her arms with a huff. "Ugh. Rude much?"

Anger cracked his knuckles. "If they keep sayin' crap like that, they're gonna be dead _before_ this Saturday!"

Sadness slumped over on the console, her face landing on some buttons. Her lip trembled. "They've lost faith in us!"

Fear jumped up. "You're right, Sadness! They _have!_ " He bolted over to the console like a streak of purple lightning and pressed several buttons at once. About three or four purple-and-blue memories rolled in.

Anger threw his newspaper at Fear. "Hey! I thought I told you to-"

"Don't you think you guys are reading into this a little too much?" asked Joy.

Disgust pinched the bridge of her nose. "Joy, do we really have to spell it out for you? They don't think we're good anymore!"

"Well, even if they don't, we gotta prove them wrong. We still have until Saturday, after all."

Riley's phone rang. It was a text from her mother, letting her know she was outside. She said goodbye to the usual people, went out into the parking lot, and got in the car.

"How was practice?"

"Good."

"Finish your homework?"

"Almost done."

They made small talk until the car pulled into the driveway. Riley didn't mention anything about her fall or the discussion with the coach.

...

Once Riley was asleep and Joy had reminded everyone of how the plan would work, she took Dream Duty. But as the only thing Dream Productions could come up with was some ridiculous story about Dad and Coach Evans having an endless argument about whether Mia Sanchez should stay in the game, she got bored pretty quickly. So naturally, she felt somewhat relieved when Sadness came down the stairs and said she wanted to talk.

"Hey, Joy," Sadness said as she dragged herself over to the sofa and sat down.

"Hi, Sadness," said Joy. "What's up?"

"Well, I hate to bother you, but..." She looked up at the screen. "Is that seriously what they're showing tonight?"

Joy shrugged. "'Fraid so. Those political debates on TV are more interesting than this," she said with a giggle. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"Actually, it's about Fear."

Joy was taken aback. "What about him?"

"Don't you think he seemed really upset today? I mean, he wouldn't come out of his room because of Anger, he made Riley swear at practice, and then Anger started slamming him against the wall...do you think something happened between them?"

"That _was_ pretty cruel," said Joy. "As much as they fight all the time, Anger's never done anything like that before. But don't you think that if something happened that was bad enough to keep Fear in his room for half the day, he'd tell us about it?"

"Would he?" was all Sadness said back.

Joy looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"This is Anger we're talking about here," Sadness said gravely. "You know how Fear feels about him and his temper. What if Fear's not telling us the whole story because he's scared of what Anger might do?"

The yellow emotion sighed. "I guess you're right."

"Joy?"

"Yeah?"

"Come to think of it, Disgust was meaner than usual, too."

"You think she could be involved?"

"I don't know. I just feel so bad for Fear. I wish I knew why they were treating him this way." A tear of sympathy trickled down her face and landed in her collar.

"Maybe they really _do_ think we don't need him," Joy suggested.

"But why?" Sadness's voice was choked. "Riley needs all of us. We both know that."

"Look, Riley's thirteen now. She's growing up. And she's just not scared of the things that scared her when she was a little kid anymore. But I think Fear just won't let them go. Like, uh...Grandma's vacuum, for example. Is Riley scared of that anymore?"

"No," said Sadness. "Disgust took that fear over, and now Riley can't believe that she used to be afraid of a vacuum."

"And what about the stairs to the basement?"

"Well, we don't live in our old house anymore, so there's no need to be scared of those stairs."

"And then there's that old movie about a toaster with a mind of its own," Joy continued. "Remember how creepy the big computer character was?"

"She's too old to be scared by that. You took that one over, so now it's a fond childhood memory."

"Exactly. The list goes on and on. Those things don't scare Riley like they used to. I guess that's why Anger and Disgust figure that they don't need Fear around anymore."

More tears prickled in Sadness's eyes. "But that doesn't make it okay for them to be so cruel! And if Fear won't tell us what's wrong, then what are we going to do about it?"

Joy patted her friend's shoulder. "Hey, don't worry. First thing tomorrow, I'll go talk to them. Promise."

Sadness took off her glasses and wiped her eyes. "Thanks, Joy."

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for reading! Please review!**


	5. Snap

**A/N: This was a pretty hard chapter to do, but here it is! Thanks once again to everybody who's supported me and put up with me thus far! You lot are really too kind!**

* * *

"Rise and shine, everybody!" That was Joy's voice, waking up the other emotions. "Time for another great day!"

After the other four had reluctantly dragged themselves out of bed, they headed downstairs for another group meeting.

"Today, it'll be your turn to call the shots at practice," Joy told Disgust. "Make sure Riley's doing everything right, and keep her at the top of her game."

Disgust flipped her hair. "Too easy."

"Joy," Sadness whispered. "Won't you talk to them?"

"Sorry, Sadness, but it'll have to wait. School's probably gonna get boring, so I'll talk to them then."

The blue emotion's shoulders drooped. "Okay."

...

"Alright, class," the math teacher announced. "There's ten minutes left of class, so you can use it to get started on your homework."

Nobody stopped Fear from making Riley feel the need to take advantage of those ten minutes because both Anger and Disgust had gone to the other room with Joy. Once Riley had started her homework, Fear said: "Not that I'm complaining, but how come Joy said she wanted to talk to those two in private?"

Sadness grasped the bottom of her sweater and averted her eyes. "Well, Fear...the truth is...I asked her to."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know...I just thought that they were being really mean to you - meaner than usual - and I hated to see them do those things to you, so...I told Joy about it, and she said she'd ask them what's up... I'm sorry. I just figured that you were having a lot of trouble, and we wanted to help you."

Fear raised his eyebrows. "You asked her to do that...for _me?_ "

"Yeah, I guess so," Sadness replied, still not making eye contact. "Sorry."

Fear couldn't believe it. All this time he had been deathly afraid of confronting Anger and Disgust about their issues with him, but now he didn't have to! "Oh, Sadness! You don't know how much you've helped me! I'm only sorry I couldn't stand up to them myself." He could barely resist hugging her. "Thanks so much!"

Sadness smiled, a bit embarrassed. "Well, Joy's the one talking to them. You should really be thanking her, too."

"Oh, I will, I will!" he said, the grateful relief in his voice as obvious as could be.

.

 _-Meanwhile, in the other room-_

.

"Alright, Joy, make it quick, we gotta get to work," said Anger.

"I want to know what the problem is," Joy said flatly.

"What problem?" asked Disgust.

"The problem with Fear. You two have been pretty mean to him lately, and I want this problem to be solved as quick as possible so Riley doesn't suffer during the game."

The other two exchanged a look. "Can you believe this?" Anger muttered under his breath. "Hey, sister, you don't want Riley to suffer, you'll keep Fear away from the console just like we're doing," he told Joy, exasperation in his voice. "Capisce?"

"No, not capisce! I gave Fear a special job to do, and if you won't let him do it-"

"Let me ask you this, Joy," Disgust interrupted, "if you think Fear can be trusted to help Riley like you want him to, then how do you explain the little accident - which was completely his fault - that we had yesterday?"

"Well-" Joy began.

"She's right. We may have been let off easy this time, but one more screwup and I don't think the coach is gonna be so forgiving," Anger agreed. "Frankly, I'm surprised we didn't get kicked off the team when it happened!"

"That's not exactly-" Joy started.

"If we leave Fear to do things the way he does, he'll get the entire team to lose faith in Riley, and then it's a one-way ticket to Loserville for all of us," Disgust concluded, folding her arms.

"That's enough, you guys!" Joy yelled. "The only reason Fear messed up at all was because you pressured him into it, Anger!"

"I did _not!_ " Anger yelled back.

Joy sighed. "Look, if you'll just give Fear another chance, I'm sure he'll come through. Besides, chances are you'll need him today, Disgust."

Anger groaned and Disgust rolled her eyes. Finally, she said, "Fine."

"Thanks," said Joy, all smiles again. "And don't worry, we're gonna win!"

"What the heck did you say that for?!" Anger accosted Disgust as soon as Joy left the room.

The green emotion rolled her eyes as though she couldn't believe his stupidity. "Hey, I had to say something to shut her up. Now, listen. How come do you think Joy was so upset with us today? She didn't say anything yesterday, even when you did mess up Fear's face. I'm willing to bet that slimy coward went whining to her."

Anger's head began to flare up. "How could he?! He's got no right! It was his fault in the first place!"

"Well then," said Disgust, eyes narrowed. "Looks like we just have to _scare him straight._ "

"Absolutely," growled Anger.

...

"Thanks so much, Joy!" Fear was saying. "You just saved my life!"

Joy laughed. "Hey, what are friends for? And anyway, Sadness was the one looking out for you."

Just then, the door to the other room opened. It was Anger. "Hey, Fear," he said. "Me and Disgust wanna talk to you for a sec." And then he closed the door.

"Hey, this is it!" Joy said while helping Riley pack her bag to leave school.

"Yeah, I bet they're going to apologize," said Sadness. "Go talk to them."

Fear twiddled his fingers a bit. "I hope so. You guys okay for a minute or two?"

"Yep!" Joy replied.

"Alright." He went into the other room.

"W-what's up?" he asked Anger.

"Nothing, really."

"You guys, uh...really don't need to bother to talk this over with me," Fear told them, wanting to be polite.

"No, no, we insist," said Disgust with a touch too much sugar in her voice.

Anger slammed the door and turned to face Fear. "What did you tell her?!" he demanded, advancing toward him.

Immediately, Fear raised his arms up in front of his face to protect himself. "I didn't tell her anything!"

"Fess up, ugly!" Disgust ordered.

Fear backed away from them. "N-no! I told you, I didn't say anything! She...she probably just thought you guys were overdoing it!"

"Overdoing it?!" Anger fumed. "I'll show _you_ overdoing it!" He rammed Fear in the gut with his fist.

Fear bent over and knelt on the ground. As the pain flowed through his particles and he heard the two emotions scolding and accusing him, he came to a decision. _They can't hurt me any worse,_ he told himself. _I don't care what they do to me anymore. I'm aware of it, and I'll be prepared._ Slowly, tentatively, still holding his stomach, Fear rose to his feet. "For the last time," he began, his voice still shaking a bit, "I didn't tell Joy anything."

"Prove it!" Anger challenged him.

He took a deep breath. "I was upstairs in my room all morning yesterday. You two saw me go to bed that night. I haven't left the console once today to talk to anybody in private." His confidence grew with each word, until his voice was steady and even, almost monotone. He stood upright, moved toward his two accusers, and said with all the confidence he could muster, "And I'll tell you something else, it was your fault I wouldn't leave my room in the first place!" He leaned in toward Disgust and pointed an accusing finger at her. "' _He touches that console, he'll live to regret it!_ '"

Disgust's eyes grew wide. She glowered at him. "You were spying on us that night, weren't you?!"

"No, all I did was hear you, and then you guys went and scared me to death!"

"Oh, yes!" Anger hissed. "Always running away from your problems, huh?! Just like that time last year, when Riley's life was falling apart, and you packed up your bags, and you called down that tube, and you-"

As the images flashed by, Fear clapped his hands over his ears, shut his eyes, and gave his head a violent shake. "Listen, I don't want to hear about it!" he snapped. "I don't want to hear about it anymore! This conversation is over, do you understand?"

"We're not-"

" _Over!_ " He began stomping off.

"Ya know what you are?!" Anger yelled, following him. "You're a...a nuisance!"

The purple emotion whirled around to face him, his face in an expression of unbelieving exasperation. "Why?" he demanded. "Because of who I am or what I do?"

"Try both," snapped Disgust.

Fear gave a scornful chuckle. "Oh, and now we're right back to how worthless I am again, aren't we? Well, regardless of what good I can do, I care about our safety and security - something I wouldn't expect the _Nag Bag_ " - he glared at Disgust, who scoffed - "or _Old Napoleon_ " - he shifted his glare to Anger, who scowled - "to know anything about. And regardless of any little complaints you may have, we are meanwhile approaching a life-changing event, and I've gotta get back to work."

"Tch. 'Back to work', he says!" mocked Disgust. Anger sneered.

"HA! What a _load!_ " He grabbed Fear by the collar and pulled him downward to speak right into his face. "As if we're gonna let some _coward_ up behind the console when the last thing that Riley needs is to start shakin' in her skates over whatever stupid conspiracy theories _you're_ gonna fill her head with!"

As Anger had expected, Fear began trembling. His entire body shook with terror. But unlike so many times before, he did not try to pry himself away, nor even avert his eyes from Anger's terrible scowl, but instead looked the red emotion straight in the eye and scowled right back. _He's not going to frighten me into submission,_ Fear convinced himself. _Not this time._ "And why not?" He countered, his teeth clenched the same as Anger's were.

A bit taken aback by the other emotion's sudden lack of timidity, no, newfound courage, Anger gave a short gasp. "Whaddaya mean, why not?! Do you honestly think that, by any stretch of the imagination, that would be fair to Riley?!"

Inside, Fear began bubbling. With a sudden burst of strength, he shoved Anger right off him. " _Fair?!_ " he shrieked. "That wouldn't be _fair?!_ And here I thought you'd know better than anybody what fair is! Let's remind ourselves of a few things that happened, shall we? Last year, when we'd just moved here, _you,_ Anger, had the brilliant idea of going back to Minnesota without telling anybody, which _you,_ Disgust, had no objection to! Nobody listened to me, and then we ended up stealing Mom's money, running away from home, hopping a bus full of total strangers, scaring Mom and Dad half to death, nearly shutting down the console completely, and causing the collapse of the last two islands, creating a total death trap for Joy and Sadness, who were having a hard enough time already! Now tell me, was any of that fair to Riley, or to any of us for that matter?!"

Anger and Disgust could hardly believe what they were seeing. Was this really the same Fear who was at their complete mercy just this morning, the same coward who always held himself and shrunk away whenever they were telling him off, as he was telling them off just now? Disgust looked round at Anger, waiting for him to say something. He was looking back at her, hoping she'd say something. "Hey, uh, hang on..." he got out, his voice barely audible.

"And while we're on the subject of _worthlessness,_ " Fear went on, bringing himself up to full height, towering over Anger, "do you, by any chance, consider yourself worthy of protecting Riley after what you did to nearly get her killed? You failed her, Anger. So did you, Disgust! Even more than I did! If I'm as worthless as you say, then you two must be the most worthless of all, because I'm obviously worthier than you!" Though he trembled through and through, the skinny emotion's pale purple eyes were wild with fury as he glowered at the other two, whose mouths were still hanging wide open in shock. It was as if the emotions had switched namesakes, with Fear looking both sickened and infuriated, and Disgust and Anger looking all but terrified.

All three were silent. Nobody moved nor spoke. After what seemed like an eternity of deafening silence, Fear turned and left just as quickly as he could. Even after he was gone, Anger and Disgust kept standing there, wordless and dumbfounded.

"Well, Anger? Are you going to let him talk to us like that? Go after him!" Disgust said all of a sudden, her voice back to its normal snotty tone.

"We...failed her," Anger mumbled.

Disgust rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you actually believe all that trash. You just did what you had to do. So did I. That's nothing to feel sorry about, right? Fear was the one who tried to run."

"But... _I_ was the one who made _her_ run. And I almost got away with it."

"Ugh. Look, that was a year ago! Just forget it already!"

Anger sighed. "Yeah...alright. Listen, you go back to the console. I'll, uh...be with you guys in five minutes."

"What do you mean? What if we need you?"

"Nothin' you or Joy can't handle. I know that."

"Anger!"

"I _said_ , get outta here," he growled through clenched teeth.

Disgust gave up. It was clear that she wasn't going to get anywhere with him. "Fine, if you're going to be acting all weird." She turned on her heel and left the room.

Fear hadn't told Joy or Sadness about what had happened in the other room. He had just come back, looking very disconsolate, even a bit wild-eyed. Disgust, however, owed it to her self-consciousness to act as though everything was normal, and so she did. Not wishing to seem awkward, neither Joy nor Sadness asked about the conversation, so all Disgust said was, "Anger said he'll be with us in five minutes."

...

"Isn't five minutes up by now?" Sadness asked some time later.

"Yep," Disgust replied, blowing on her nails. "Three minutes ago."

Fear was still upset with Anger, but his worry momentarily overcame it. "What could possibly be keeping him?"

"Oh, he's probably in his room, throwing pillows at his reflection in the mirror," Disgust said curtly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Joy wanted to know.

"Why do you care?" was the green emotion's response.

"Disgust," Fear said, trying to sound firm. "What happened after I left that room?"

"That's what I want to know! After you had that big yelling thing, Anger just started staring at the floor, his face got all guilty, and all he could say was 'we failed her', 'we failed her'!"

"Hold the phone," said Joy. "What yelling thing?"

"After Anger started tearing into him," said Disgust.

"Hey, you did it too!" Fear protested.

"Wait, I thought you were going to apologize!" Sadness cut in.

" _Us_ apologize to _him?_ Are you crazy?"

Fear whistled to get everyone's attention. "All right! Confession time! Two nights ago, I overheard Anger and Disgust planning to keep me away from the console no matter what. I got scared and wouldn't leave my room. I messed up later and Anger threw me at the wall. Sadness figured something was up and told Joy about it. Joy called Anger and Disgust out on it, they figured I knew something and dragged me into the other room to bludgeon me to death. I tried to defend myself, but I ended up raising my voice and saying some things I shouldn'tve said, Anger's taking it personally, and now I've gotta go straighten things out because if I don't, we're gonna lose the game." And with that, he zipped up the stairs.

He knocked on Anger's door. No response. He knocked again, louder. Still no response. He called Anger's name. Not even a "bug off!" from inside. Nervously, Fear turned the handle - which, for some reason, was not locked as he expected - and opened the door. Nobody on the bed, nobody under the bed. Nobody in the closet, nobody behind the door. Fear gulped. He began shaking again. He searched Disgust's room. Nobody. He searched Sadness's, Joy's, and even his own room. Nobody. He darted back downstairs and into the room next to the console room. He practically turned the room upside-down, and still Anger was nowhere in sight.

" ** _GUYS?!_** "

It was such an alarming scream that all three girls came at once, only to find Fear running all over the room in a massive panic, eyes bugging out of his head.

"Fear! What's wrong? What happened?" Joy asked as soon as they were able to restrain him.

In a disturbed voice that was barely audible through his hyperventilating, Fear said: "Anger's _gone._ "

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for reading! And thank you for over thirty reviews!**


	6. Decision

**A/N: Short one this time, and you'll see why.**

* * *

Anger looked up at the hundreds and hundreds of memory shelves looming before him. His breathing hadn't slowed since he had left Headquarters. He had come to a decision, and he was going to carry it out, no matter what he'd have to do. This was part of his job, his responsibility. He was supposed to keep everything fair for Riley. And as much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, Fear was right. Telling Riley to run away was anything _but_ fair.

The minute Fear had left the room, Anger had made up his mind. He had called down the emergency tube that was in that room and sent himself whizzing toward Long-Term Memory. If what Sadness had told him was correct, all of Riley's memories - excepting the Core Memories - were stored there and easily accessible in case Riley needed to be reminded of anything. Memories that were faded were thrown into the Memory Dump, forgotten forever. Following that logic, Anger decided that he would find Riley's memories of running away, throw them in the Dump, and all guilt on his part would be forgotten. But now, looking at the innumerable memory shelves and the innumerable amount of memories they contained, Anger had surmised that his plan wouldn't be as easy to carry out as he had thought. But he wasn't about to give up. He'd put Fear in his place yet. With a menacing glare at the shelves, he charged into Long-Term Memory.

* * *

 **A/N: I've been thinking, and I've come to a decision about this fic. This might be the last chapter I'll post. That's right, it's getting discontinued. Nobody seems to like it as much as they did when I started it, I'm getting literally zero views this week, and all the drafts for potential chapters that I've done are riddled with gaping plotholes that I doubt I can cover any time soon. I thought I knew what I was doing this time around (unlike with that Mikado fic that turned out to be a total mess) but I think I should stick to what I know: one-shots. Sorry to disappoint you guys again.**

 **~GMT**


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